A third British rabbi is now in the running to be the next chief rabbi - Rabbi Alan Kimche of the Ner Israel Synagogue in north-west London.
Rabbi Kimche, who is 60, said this week: "I can confirm that I am a candidate. But to discuss anything more would be premature."
The Chief Rabbinate Trust, which hopes to announce a successor to Lord Sacks by the end of this year, has sworn itself to secrecy over the identity of candidates.
But word on the street over the past weekend suggested that the choice was likely to be made from one of four names: Rabbi Kimche, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of Finchley United Synagogue, Rabbi Harvey Belovski of Golders Green United Synagogue and Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Centre in New York.
